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Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton defeated challenger Bernie Sanders in Maryland and Delaware and was expected to sweep the other three states as well.
Clinton's strong showing in the Democratic race added to the pressure on Sanders to get out of the race or ease his criticism of her.
Before Tuesday's outcome, the former secretary of state had an almost insurmountable lead of 275 pledged delegates heading into Tuesday's contests, and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters he did not think Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, had a realistic path to winning the nomination.
Sanders, speaking to a big crowd in Huntington, West Virginia, showed no signs of getting out of the race and said he was shedding light on inconvenient truths about how hard life was these days for some Americans.
"The reason that we are generating this enthusiasm is because we are doing something very unusual in contemporary politics. We are telling the truth," he said.
A total of 118 pledged Republican delegates were at stake in addition to 54 unbound Pennsylvania delegates.

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